A stock clerk at NJ Transit was indicted for allegedly stealing more than $23,000 in bus parts and selling them on eBay, state officials said yesterday.

Douglas Deleeuw, 51, was fired March 18 after undercover agents matched the serial numbers of purloined parts they purchased over the Internet with those Deleeuw had signed out from the NJ Transit bus garage in Howell where he worked, the indictment alleges. He was charged with official misconduct, theft and money laundering and faces up to 20 years in jail if convicted.

"It is also charged the employee attempted to conceal the thefts and obstruct the investigation by returning stolen parts to the inventory and by eliminating the eBay page," Attorney General Peter Harvey said in a statement.

Deleeuw, a Brick Township resident who worked at NJ Transit for 23 years, was not available for comment last night.

The joint investigation by the state Division of Criminal Justice's special prosecutions unit and NJ Transit police began after "excessive amounts" of in-stock inventory at the bus garage began to disappear, Criminal Justice Director Vaughn McKoy said in a statement.

After finding the disappearing parts on two Internet auction sites that Deleeuw operated, investigators went on a buying spree using fake credit cards, McKoy said. They purchased brake lights, turn signals, marker lights and silicone hoses over three months in the summer of 2004, authorities said.

But the agents could have bought much more, including bus sensors, batteries and at least one bus seat that Deleeuw is accused of stealing during 12 months ending in December 2004, McKoy said.

One of the sites, operating under the profile name "Wackimac," continued to sell items yesterday ranging from a painted plate commemorating Joe DiMaggio's hitting streak to a novelty coffee mug that included the saying "I'm not a morning person."

More than 99 percent of the nearly 400 people who purchased something on the site said their transaction was positive, according to the eBay profile.

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